The Illustrious Manifestations of God and the Inexcusable Ignorance of Men
Romans 1:19-21
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has showed it to them.…


I. IT IS MORE KNOWABLE THAT THERE IS A GOD THAN ANYTHING ELSE IS KNOWABLE.

1. In respect of the fulness of being that is in Him. We sooner find out the sun than a lesser light, the sea than a little fountain.

2. In respect of the ways of knowing Him. We come to a more certain knowledge of God —

(1) By way of perfection. We need not fear to say too much of God. If we speak of man's soul, or of an angel, we may speak too much; but of God we cannot speak too much.

(2) By way of negation. We can never remove imperfection far enough from God. When we have done our most we must say, God is beyond what finite and limited understandings can lay out.

3. In respect of our relation to Him. We stand nearer related to God than to anything in the world; our souls and bodies are not nearer related than our souls and God (Acts 17:28).

4. In respect of our dependence upon Him, and His conservation of us and cooperation with us. Any man that is in any degree spiritual and intellectual, and not altogether sunk down into sense and brutish affections, seeks in himself foreign suggestions and whispers that direct him better and carry him beyond his own mind and resolves (Job 32:8; 35:27).

II. I INFER —

1. The excellency of religion. It is no stranger to human nature, nor any of the eminent notable acts of it. Man contradicts his own principles and departs from himself when he falls off from God.

2. The use of reason in matters of religion. In religion there is the natural knowledge of God, and the knowledge of the revelation of His will. In the former we are made to know; in the latter we are called to partake of God's counsel. In the former we know that God is and what His nature is; and in the latter we know what God enjoins in order to oar future happiness.

3. That there is no invincible ignorance as to the great rights, viz., that God is to be worshipped and adored, and that there is a difference between good and evil. If a man varies from these laws, he contracts guilt to his conscience, and is condemned by the sense of his own mind.

4. That reason is so far from doing any disservice to Christian faith, that it fits men to receive it. For man in the true use of his reason, knowing that he hath not performed his duty to God, reason puts him upon deprecating God's displeasure, and to think that God, who is the first and chiefest good, will certainly be ready to commiserate the case of him who repents and returns to duty. And this is gospel, that Jesus came into the world to confirm. And taking up the Bible and finding that "God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," Reason says, "This is that I did expect: I did believe such a thing from the first and chiefest good; and now I am assured of it by the gospel."

5. Since the great things of religion and conscience are committed to reason to keep and secure, why should we think the reason of a man may not be trusted with those things that are of lesser moment.

III. THE IMPIOUS AND PROFANE ARE THEREFORE WITHOUT EXCUSE. There is a natural sense of Deity in every rational soul; and this is fundamental to all religion. The eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. If men are ignorant, it is through their own fault; either through the neglect of their own faculties, or through an inobservance of the great effects of God in the world, which show and declare what He is. To pursue the argument a little further. The Scripture doth thus represent the state of man's creation that the proper employment of mind is to inquire after God (Acts 17:27). God did never intend that reason should ever be adjudged to be a hewer of wood or a drawer of water, but for observance of God and attendance upon Him. "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." A candle is a thing first lighted, then lighting; so that mind is first made light by Divine influences, and then enlightens a man in the use thereof to find out God, and to follow after Him in creation and providence. And we find degeneracy is thus described: "They have no fear of God before their eyes." "Without God in the world." And it is the fool's sense that "there is no God." There is therefore no plea for want of the sense of Deity.

1. No invincible difficulty lies upon any man but that he may come to the cognisance of a God. Not the difficulty of —

(1) Ignorance; for we are made to know there is a God.

(2) Impotency; for every man may use his natural parts and powers.

(3) Foreign impediment; for it is a transaction performed within a man's self. If anyone be devoid of all sense of Deity, I declare it is the malignity of the subject upon a three-fold account. First, because of the nearness of God to us. Secondly, because of the sagacity of our faculties. And thirdly, because of the nearness of light of knowledge.

2. There are invitations everywhere afforded us to acts of acknowledgment and taking cognisance of God.

(1) The communications of God awaken us. All we have and are is by a voluntary communication from God. We are nowhere but receivers.

(2) The very principles of man's make do incline him to God. All things move to their centre, and God is the centre of immortal souls. Caesar's money was no more properly his than mind is God's; for it bears His impress. The soul of man, ally ways by violence torn off from God, is like leaves fallen off from the trees, that wither away; but in God, who is their centre, they have rest, perfection, and quiet.

(3) If we consider the whole creation about us, they contribute, by way of object, to God's glory; for they have not ability to do it by way of efficiency. And this is the sense of the Psalmist. For mind in man is to see and observe the wisdom and power and goodness of God.

3. To speak a little more home, and only to the Christian world. There is God's superadded instrument, the Bible, which contains matter of revelation from God whereby also our natural notices of God are awakened and enlivened. Being disposed by the two former arguments, this Book gives further assurance. So that here are my three arguments.

(1) The language of our own souls within.

(2) The impressions of the Divine wisdom throughout the whole creation, and objective acclamations of all creatures, carry us strongly on to the knowledge of God.

(3) Holy Scripture comes in to the pursuance of these, to repeat and reinforce them, so that he must needs be of a stupid mind, or a havocked conscience, or dissolute in his life and manners, that lives in the midst of so many arguments, and doth not spell out God and understand the audible language of heaven and earth.Conclusion: Note —

1. The infinite patience of God to endure men of stupid minds, havocked consciences, and profligate lives (Hebrews 12:3).

2. The business of the Day of Judgment is very easy on God's part, but very sad on degenerate men's part. For God's work is prepared to His hands; all sinners are self-condemned.

3. The greatness of the work of reconciliation. A man must be made whole in himself, or else he cannot be kept out of hell. A man cannot be at ease until all that he hath sinfully done be undone, and until right judgment hath been renewed which hath been violently forced, and regular life and conversation be restored. Now these are the materials of regeneration.

(B. Whichcote, B. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

WEB: because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.




The Existence of God; Evidence For
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